DESCRIPTION:
Christen Sparago, flute
Nick Davies, bass clarinet
Eryn Bauer, bassoon
Nate Udell, horn
David Sedgwick, trumpet
Rick Stiles, bass trombone
Melissa Wilmot, violin
Ling Ling Huang, violin
Stephanie Mientka, viola
Francesca McNeeley, cello
Robert Nelson, double bass
Stephen Bachicha, conductor

Mark Hirsch and Kenya Gillespie, camera operators
Fran Schmidt, audio engineer
Mark Hirsch, video editing and direction
mhinterarts.com

The idea for Music Box 9 was to give the audience the freedom to move and create their own experience. The piece starts with seven configurations of solos and duos scattered around the Orange Show. The audience is free walk at the their own pace and hear each bit of music as they please. Each "bit" is very important to the 8th movement of the piece for the full ensemble. In this way, Music Box 9 attempts to alleviate another strain that 20th and 21st century music places on the audience: lack of a common musical language (Mozart and Beethoven, though a generation apart shared the same basic musical language). Each composer since the beginning of the 20th century has developed a very personal musical language. With so many different musical languages being presented at once, the audience is often lost in translation (through no fault of their own).

Music Box 9 "teaches" the audience subconsciously about the piece by giving them the important bits out of context. When the full ensemble assembles and performs the 8th movement (roughly 8 minutes long), all of the bits will fit together. The audience, through creating their own experience previously will be able to remember, recognize, and create meaningful relationships between all of the previously heard bits. It is an experiment in memory. It also experiments with the audience as an active participant in the piece as well as the venue being an integral character in the development of each audience member's experience.
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